


you ought to head for the exit

by Diaphonie



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, Touch-Starved, bad first aid practices, grey morality, guns and knives, pretty much a vent fic, private detective/crime lord au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-02
Updated: 2018-11-14
Packaged: 2019-08-14 15:06:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16494989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Diaphonie/pseuds/Diaphonie
Summary: “I was hired to investigate a disappearance,” Anti repeated, “not commit a murder.”In which Anti is a morally grey private eye and Dark is up to all kinds of devious behaviors.





	1. the sooner the better

**Author's Note:**

> I've really been struggling to make the next chapter of 'everyone's a monster' really good and have the right impact. But in the interim, I give you this small offering. It isn't much, but I'm fairly proud of it and there's a Plan for it which is always exciting. Any questions, comments, or suggestions are always appreciated! Take care, my friends! <3
> 
> Title pulled from "Autoclave" by the Mountain Goats. I highly recommend.

The walk back to his motel room was cold and damp. Rain poured down throughout the city in heavy sheets and for all the preparation he’d done, Anti had forgotten to check the weather. By the time he got to his door, his fingers were shaking badly enough that fitting the key into the lock was a study in futility. If it wasn’t for the small cache of weapons and sensitive information contained behind it, he would have just kicked the door in and paid for the damage when his next check came in. Whenever that was going to be. But breaking the lock wouldn’t do, so he took a deep breath to reel in his frustration and tried again. He’d wondered when he’d first arrived why the motel hadn’t switched over to the magnetic card reader style locks, even though that kind of system was so easy to hack and now the idea pricked him with rage. The key would be more secure but damned if swiping a card wouldn’t be simpler right now.

At last, he managed to unlock the door and stepped into the darkened room, letting the heavy metal door slam shut behind him. He shed his long coat like a second skin, shook it off, and hung it in the closet to dry properly. As he made his way through the space, more layers of clothes were removed but tossed around the room with far less care. It already looked like a bomb had gone off in there and that was by precise design. A lot could be said about Anti’s methods of security, but if he had returned to his room to find even a single empty bag of crisps out of place, he’d know it was time to high tail it to a new safe house. And now, throwing himself on the single bed and pulling off heavy leather boots, he surveyed the landscape of trash and dirty clothes. Everything was exactly where he’d left it, thank god. 

The clock on the nightstand told him it was nearing three AM and all Anti wanted to do was let himself fall asleep on the spot. Getting under the covers felt like too much work. Hell, the ankles of his jeans were soaked through but even that wasn’t uncomfortable enough to move him. But as he brushed his face along the sloppy pile of blankets, something on his cheek stung. He touched the spot with a cold hand, just regaining its feeling, and sucked in a sharp breath. Apparently, the idiot who’d decked him had done more damage than he’d thought. There was blood on his fingertips when he inspected them. _Fucking perfect_ , he thought. With a groan, he heaved himself back off the bed and made for the tiny excuse for a bathroom. 

The light inside was dim, flickering, and emitted a buzzing sound, but would have to be enough to patch himself up by. He surveyed the damage in the mirror and, sure enough, the skin on his cheekbone was sliced open. He’d been through worse- this probably wouldn’t scar- but he hated idiots that wore heavy rings in a fight. Well, he hated getting hit by them. When it came down to it, the imprints were actually fairly useful in a forensic sense. But in this instance, there was no need to try and figure out who’d landed the blow. 

He pulled a bottle of alcohol and a box of steri-strips out of the medicine cabinet. He knew he should probably have more in the way of a first aid kit, but this had been enough for the past few years, not counting the time he’d had to stitch a gash on his arm with dental floss. Anti wasn’t sure whether the actual stitching process or the chewing out he’d received from the good doctor had been more unpleasant. Biting his lip and tilting his head back, he poured a stream of alcohol over the cut. It hurt more than the initial blow had and his teeth dug deep enough into his lip to draw blood. _Might as well wound my pride as well_. He ripped off an amount of toilet roll and swiped it over the cut quickly, wiping away the dried blood. A fresh rivulet ran down his cheek as he placed two steri-strips over the wound. When he was done, he wiped the blood away with the back of his hand. It wasn’t the most sanitary job, but it would do.

He rolled his head around on his neck and stretched out his arms, listening for the tell-tale pop of his shoulders. Instead, the sound of something shifting in the next room reached his ears and brought him to a swift attention. To his knowledge, there was no one in the adjacent room. It was supposed to have been rented out as buffer space anyway. And the noise itself hadn’t sounded like it filtered through the too-thin walls of the crummy motel anyway. It sounded like someone was in his room. His hand went instinctively to the knife sheathed at his back and suddenly this ‘safe house’ didn’t feel so safe after all.

Never one to balk in the face of imminent danger, Anti stepped out of the bathroom to scan the living area. Seated in the one cleared chair, hands clasped on the table amid empty takeout containers and looking placidly around the room was the man he’d been seeking for weeks. His eyes went wide and his fingers clasped around the grip of the blade. “How did you get in here?” A million questions had sprung to the forefront of his mind, but that one won the race to his bloody lips.

The truth was, he was shocked to even recognize the man from the scant blurry photos he had been able to dig up, but the resemblance was undeniable. From the tips of his perfectly messed dark curls falling gently in front of almond-shaped eyes to the cuffs of his expertly tailored suit, this was the man known only as ‘Dark’. Weeks of digging through files and garbage, so many nights spent staked out in front of buildings his organization owned, and any number of lackeys ‘interrogated’ had done zero good learning any more about him save for the alias and his position at the top of the food chain. And now here he was, looking wildly out of place in Anti’s own hovel.

Dark raised his gaze toward him, absolutely serene, and fixed him with a warm smile. “Is that really what you’re leading with, detective?” he asked, his voice a gentle rumble Anti could nearly feel from across the room. Dark looked him over appraisingly and suddenly the air felt very cool on Anti’s exposed torso. “Honestly, you’d think I’d warrant a little more than some scrappy private eye sniffing around the edges of my business.” 

Anti was a bit frozen in place, unsure exactly what course of action to take in this moment. It was likely Dark was armed with more than a tactical knife, but Anti’s nearest gun was behind him in the inner pocket of his long coat. And there was a snowball’s chance in hell he was about to turn his back on someone as purportedly dangerous as Dark. True, he had a bit of a death wish, but getting gunned down in a run-down motel room was hardly his idea of dying in a blaze of glory. All he could think to do was play it as cool as his opponent. Anti was never great shakes at chess, but something gave him a feeling the man wasn’t here to incite violence. This was a warning.

He released the knife and spread his hands in front of him, proposing a parlay. Dark inclined his head slightly in a motion of agreement and Anti took a measured step forward. “To what does this ‘scrappy private eye’ owe the pleasure of a personal visit from you? I’d come to understand you didn’t take many face to face meetings with strangers.” It had been hard enough to even catch a glimpse of him and one of his men had insisted that though he’d been working in the organization for years, he’d never met his boss. 

Dark laughed and leaned back in his seat. “The pleasure? I’m not sure I’d go so far as to call it a pleasure. At least…not yet.” Anti narrowed his eyes slightly, licked his lips and tasted the blood on his mouth. It was so hard to get a read on the man before him. Impossible to intuit his intentions. There was a flicker of something in his eyes, but it could have been anything. Irritation. Humor. Hunger. There was just no telling. “I’m here,” Dark continued, standing and moving away from the table, “to find out what exactly it is you want with me.” He moved through the detritus on the floor without looking at it, turned his back on Anti and walked toward the window looking out on the city.

“I was hired to investigate a disappearance,” Anti said. He wasn’t sure when he’d decided to be honest about his intentions, but the truth came spilling out unbidden. “A kid went missing a few years ago and the police gave up trying to find him. Decided he didn’t want to be found. And his family turned to me instead.”

Dark nodded. His hands were clasped behind his back. “Yes, I assumed something like that,” he said to the window. “And since I’m not dead yet, I can also safely assume you don’t intend to kill me, am I right?” Anti had to think about that one for a moment. He was no assassin, that much was true. But given the opportunity to take out the leader of a vast criminal organization was more than a little tempting. The law wouldn’t be on his side, but it would feel justified. Apparently, the pause was long enough to pique Dark’s interest and he turned back to face Anti with a questioning glance. “It’s a simple question,” he said. “How much thought does it actually warrant?”

“I was hired to investigate a disappearance,” Anti repeated, “not commit a murder.” Evasive, but true.

Dark’s face lit up with a smile. He was clearly pleased by the answer, but the expression didn’t seem to fit his face in a way that looked natural. “You’re absolutely fascinating,” he said, stepping closer. Anti’s hand twitched, longing to make a grab for his knife. They maintained eye contact as Dark approached and Anti felt positively stalked. This was the first time in a long time he’d been face to face with someone with such a sinister aura. A majority of his work was done from a distance, with hundreds of yards and a telescopic lens between him and his subject. And even when he absolutely had to get his hands dirty, it meant roughing up some common thug to acquire information. Dark was a far cry from the usual. 

“What do you think you know about me?” Anti asked, holding his gaze steady and looking for even the slightest tell in Dark’s expression. _Chess_ , he reminded himself. _This is chess, not a street fight._

Faster than he would have liked, Dark was upon him. A mere two feet away and perfectly poised. Dark kept his back straight and head tilted back so that, despite their similar height, he looked down on Anti. This was a man used to talking down to people. A man who didn’t just think he was above the common rabble, but held it as an intrinsic fact. It made Anti’s blood boil. No one belonged above him, let alone the criminal before him. Anti had been digging into just what Dark’s organization did and it turned out there was almost nothing they didn’t dabble in. The network was extensive and branched throughout the country. He had trouble getting any actual evidence of illegal activities but had more than enough information to suspect Dark’s associates and minions of anything from smash and grabs to insider trading. The man may be an emperor, but an empire built on crooked pillars was never meant to stand for long.

“I know more than you’d like to think I do,” Dark said. “I know who hired you and who you’re looking for. I know where every weapon is hidden in this room. I know exactly how long you’ve been trying to track me down and the names of each of my men you’ve questioned.” Anti was skeptical. No one could be so meticulous to toss his room, root out everything hidden in it, and put everything back exactly right. He would have noticed something. And if Dark really did know so much, then why not just have someone put a bullet in his brain and be done with it? Why stage this meeting in the first place?

He took a step back, away from Dark’s imposing figure and toward the one gun within reach. “Let’s say I believe that,” he said defiantly. “It doesn’t explain why you’re here.” Nor, he added in his thoughts, why he was so close. Anti hadn’t planned for murder that night, but perhaps it was on Dark’s agenda after all. 

Dark blinked slowly and cocked his head to the side. “Isn’t it obvious?” he asked. “I haven’t had a good game of cat and mouse for a while now and wanted to size you up. Find out just how worthy of an adversary you might be.” That unreadable glint was back in his eye and even this close, Anti still couldn’t parse its meaning. Reading people was his job and he’d always thought himself damn good at it, but Dark shattered that illusion. Was a single word out of his mouth even true? Anti couldn’t tell for sure. 

“I don’t play games. You can tell me what I need to know and get the fuck out of my room.” His breath came shallowly and was more and more difficult to keep measured. If this could be their last interaction, Anti would count his lucky stars. For once in his life, he found himself in deeper water than he ever meant to tread. 

But Dark shook his head and raised a hand to cup Anti’s cheek. It was all Anti could do not to flinch away from the touch. He needed to stay calm. To maintain the same level of control that Dark did, even if it killed him. “I don’t think so, pet.” He swiped his thumb across Anti’s cheek and it came away bloody. He placed the pad of his thumb to his lips and sucked the liquid off with a wet smack. What kind of game was he playing, after all? “Like I said,” Dark continued, “you’re fascinating. It would be so much more fun to make you work for it. Once you’ve earned it, I’ll let you know just what became of Ethan.” He leaned in and spoke directly into Anti’s ear, the ghost of his breath spreading goosebumps across the detective’s skin. “Trust me that you’ll enjoy the chase just as much as I will.”

Leaving Anti frozen and rooted to the spot, Dark stepped around him and opened the door. “Until we meet again, Eoin,” he said, and the door clicked shut behind him. 

An hour later, as Anti hurriedly packed everything from the motel room into the trunk of his car it struck him that he’d never told Dark his name.


	2. do i amuse you when the night is slow?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a bitch and a half to wrangle and it genuinely got out of hand. But hey, here ya go!

The cursor blinked in the vast expanse of a blank email. Anti knew what he needed to say, but had no idea how to express it. He tapped a finger lightly on the space bar, trying out different phrasings in his head. Nothing wanted to coalesce into the right blend of accurate and polite. He’d promised weekly updates to the man who’d hired him to find his son and so far they had been a bit repetitive. There were only so many ways to say he was following a lead and things seemed hopeful. There was also the sinking suspicion that the situation wasn’t as hopeful as he’d been trying to make it appear. 

As the weeks dragged on without a sign of the kid, Anti felt worse and worse for continuing to cash the checks that kept coming. Ethan’s family was desperate for closure one way or the other, but he really had seemed to disappear into thin air. The truth was he was either dead and disposed of somewhere he’d never be found or else someone was going through great lengths to cover his tracks. And that was where Dark came in. 

Anti had rooted out a friend of Ethan’s who let slip he’d been in a bit of trouble with some less than savory characters during the month or so before he’d gone missing from his college campus. From there it was slow, but fairly steady progress through ranks and branches, trying to figure out exactly what Ethan had gotten himself into. No one was entirely forthcoming, even after Anti had done what he could to loosen their lips with some good old-fashioned elbow grease, but it didn’t matter. He’d always had an uncanny ability to put two and two together and a serious knack for digging up whatever information was missing from his calculations from behind the firewalls and looping paper trails they hid behind. And it all led to one figure at the top.

Two months into the investigation found him much closer to discovering the length and breadth of the organization Ethan had brushed up against, but no closer to the kid’s actual location. The question now was how to tell all that to an emotionally exhausted father without revealing too much. He didn’t want to worry the man, but it was definitely starting to feel unfair to keep such a hopeful tone to the emails. But after his encounter with Dark last week, it was hard for him not to feel hopeful that this was all coming to an end. How had he phrased it? “I’ll let you know what became of Ethan.” Anti tossed the words around in his mind. Somehow, every word out of Dark’s mouth managed to sound ominous and that hadn’t been an exception. 

He rolled his shoulders and stretched out his back, letting the sound of the little coffee shop he’d holed up in wash over him. The quiet music and muted voices were as good as white noise at helping him gather his thoughts and he’d made it something of a habit to visit this place often once he’d discovered it. He was left alone on the whole and it wasn’t terribly far from the abandoned house he was using as a new base of operations. It was slightly better than sleeping in his car and left no paper trail at least, but the cafe was an order of magnitude cozier. 

Anti checked the clock on his laptop and groaned. It was later than he’d imagined and there was still work to do before calling it a night. The email would have to wait at least another day. He logged out of everything, packed up his computer, and swallowed down the last of the extremely cold coffee he’d been nursing with a grimace before making his way back out to the street. He stashed his bag in the trunk of his car and took off on foot toward the center of the city.

Just the night before he’d been staking out a hotel linked to a shell corporation he was certain Dark had set up. The Crimson Vista was a sleek, modern eyesore among the older buildings that surrounded it. And now that he’d met the man no doubt behind its vision, Anti could tell it positively reeked of Dark’s influence. He’d dug up the building plans and scoured the web for whatever information he could find. The reviews were wholly positive from the certain elite clientele it catered to. They remarked favorably on the minimalist interior design and the quality of the amenities provided. All of the windows on the topmost floors were tinted a dark, blood red. This, coupled with the sheer height of the building, lent themselves to the hotel’s name. One could see the entirety of the city laid out below from those windows.

While the main entrance had remained fairly quiet for the duration of his stay, a discreet side door had received a larger than average amount of traffic. He had managed to corner someone leaving in the wee hours of the morning and after applying a certain amount of persuasive force, the man had admitted to him that he’d spent the night gambling in a sub-basement. If memory served, there wasn’t a sub-basement included in the building plans, so Anti had posed a few more questions until he’d revealed that you needed to be invited and issued a key card to enter. And now, as Anti made approached the hotel in question, he fingered the plastic card in his pocket that he’d lifted from the poor bastard. He had a feeling the guy wouldn’t be invited back once word of his lapse had spread.

The walk was chilly as it was approaching midnight on a late autumnal evening and Anti wished he’d thought to wear a pair of jeans with the knees still intact. In fact, now that he thought about it, it might have been a good move to try and dress himself up a little bit better if this infiltration mission was meant to go off without a hitch. At the very least, his long coat would cover up the majority of his old clothes and, though his beanie hardly screamed “I belong among a bunch of rich assholes”, it would at least cover his bright green hair. Hiding in a car across the street from the place was one thing, but he was bound to be a bit conspicuous in the midst of a crowd and there was no getting around that.

He lingered across the street from the side entrance, watching and waiting to see if the volume of guests to the illicit casino would be as steady as the previous night. In fifteen minutes, however, not a single person had come or gone. He checked the date on his phone. Thursday. Perhaps it was just a slow night. But by that time, he could barely feel his fingertips and was committed to checking the place out. 

Anti held the small, plastic keycard up to the reader and the door unlocked with a faint click. Stepping into the small anteroom beyond, a guard sat behind a desk flicked his eyes up from his phone screen and back down without a word. The room itself held to the same minimalist aesthetic he’d come to expect from the photos of the hotel itself. The dark granite floor was shined spotlessly and a single abstract painting adorned the wall. Opposite the desk was an elevator door, which he assumed only accessed the sub-basement. 

Without a word to the guard, Anti made for the elevator door only to find that, in the place of a call button, a keypad was built into the wall. He looked over his shoulder toward the guard and silently cursed the man he’d gotten the keycard off of. Of course he hadn’t said anything about there being an additional passcode to enter once he got inside. Anti’s hand hovered over the numbers, unsure exactly how to proceed. The smart thing to do would be to pretend he’d forgotten something and leave for the night. That would give him time to track down that asshole and finish what he’d started. 

But when did Anti ever do the smart thing? Instead, he turned back toward the guard, adopted the most innocent tone he could muster and said, “Hey, I uh...I forgot the code, stupid me. Is there any way you could…?” He let his voice trail off and gestured toward the device. 

The guard looked him over, sized him up from behind a furrowed brow and through slightly squinted eyes. “Hey,” he said, “Aren’t you that guy?”

Anti’s heart dropped. “What guy?” he asked, praying to whoever would listen he hadn’t actually gained a reputation among security guards.

“The detective,” the guard replied, standing. From his seat behind the desk, he hadn’t seemed like much. But now that he was approaching, Anti could almost feel himself shrinking. He was huge; quite a bit taller and definitely heavier than he’d bargained before. This wouldn’t be the first time Anti had been booted out of a place by a guy like this and he didn’t look forward to the probably imminent scrap. “Yeah,” he went on. “I’ve got orders about you.”

That took Anti by surprise. Orders? Those could likely only come from one person. And what kind of orders would Dark give in reference to him? He didn’t want to think about it. “I think you’ve got the wrong guy. I don’t know any detectives.” He held up the keycard in his defense. “I just thought I’d swing by and maybe lose a little money.”

The guard laughed a little but grabbed Anti by the shoulder. “Nah, I don’t think I do. I’m supposed to take you to the boss, Dick.” With his free hand, the guard punched a six digit number into the keypad and the door opened at once. Anti struggled slightly in the man’s grip as he was steered into the elevator, but it was all for show. There was no convincing him at this point and, honestly? He’d kind of gotten what he was after anyway. Strong fingers bit into his shoulder and refused to let up for the duration of the short ride. 

The door eventually slid open to reveal a large room, richly appointed with dark wood paneling and deep red upholstery. It was ornate and the direct antithesis of the design of the rest of the building. Several tables littered the space and a bar lined one wall. Anti had expected the underground casino to be lavish and he wasn’t disappointed. What he hadn’t been counting on was the fact that the room was almost entirely empty. Instead, there was only a small group of eight sitting around a single poker table maybe thirty feet from the door

The guard pushed him over the threshold and Anti stumbled forward, a hand moving automatically to rub at the bruises that would surely raise there by dawn. His motions alerted the figures at the table and several of them startled. A woman in a rather slinky black dress even pulled a gun from who-knows-where and trained it on him in a flash. Anti’s eyes widened and he regretted bringing no more than a tactical knife. He raised his hands and took a step back, nearly bumping into the guard behind him.

“Ah, it’s my favorite gumshoe. Here to bust up my little game, Anti?” He let his gaze slip from the revolver in the woman’s hands to scan the patrons. Sure enough, there was Dark, still seated and sedate as ever. A jacket was slung over the back of his chair and the sleeves of his white shirt were rolled to the elbow, exposing the tanned skin of his forearms. Apparently, this was how Dark did ‘casual’.

Anti licked his lips and let his eyes fall closed. What kind of luck was this? “I didn’t mean to intrude,” he said, a tang of sarcasm behind the words. “Don’t let me get in the way.” When his eyes opened again, they found the people around the table passing confused glances between the two men. Apparently, Dark had told his guards to be on the lookout for him, but not his… What were they, friends? Business partners?

“Nonsense,” Dark replied. “You’re always a welcome sight. Come join us.” He motioned toward the table. Anti didn’t move. It was best to remain as still as possible when someone was looking at you down the barrel of a gun; he’d learned that the hard way. Twice.

“A detective, Dame? Really?” the woman holding the gun asked, clearly uncomfortable. She glared at the man. “I thought you kept better company than that.”

“Put the gun down, Celine,” Dark snapped at her. “He isn’t worth the lead. Besides, I just had this carpet installed and I’d hate to have to replace it so soon. Anti would be any trouble for you.”

The woman -Celine, apparently- placed the revolver into a small handbag. Anti put his hands down at last but still didn’t make a move toward the table. This was not the crowd he wanted to be in. For her part, Celine still wore an uneasy expression. “Trouble or not, if you think I’m sticking around for this, you’re out of your mind.” She draped a shawl around delicate shoulders and walked briskly toward the elevator, shooting Anti a disdainful expression as she passed.

A murmur passed through the remaining players and Anti could see, even from across the room, the peaceful look in Dark’s eyes change to something harder in an instant. “Get out,” he barked. “All of you. The game is over.” There was much shuffling around the table as those assembled acquiesced without a second thought. Anti wondered what it was like to command that much power. He hadn’t needed even the smallest show of force. Not even a threat of it. The intent was there in the tone of his words and it rang out clear as a bell. Not simply ‘get out’ but ‘get out _or else_ ’. He hoped that none of the awe he felt showed in his expression. Where had that man been hiding when they’d first met? 

“Thank you, Avery,” Dark said, all the bite gone from his tone. “I appreciate you bringing our guest down here.” He strode over to where they stood as everyone crowded into the elevator behind Celine. From a pocket, he pulled a hundred dollar bill and pressed it into the security guard’s hand. “For your trouble.” Avery thanked him and boarded the elevator along with everyone else, clearly dismissed.

From among the group, someone raised a voice to say, “You’re only getting rid of us because you were losing, Dark. Really need to work on that poker face.” Dark’s body went rigid; Anti could feel his aura shift through the shortened distance between them. In a quick movement, Dark pulled Anti’s knife from where it was sheathed at his back and threw it toward the man as the door slid closed. Anti jumped and spun on the spot, not keen to have the weapon bloodied if he wasn’t the one wielding it. Fortunately, it merely stuck in the wood panel of the door. It didn’t even waver.

Anti’s gaze moved back toward Dark who was taking a deep and calming breath. He watched as the man cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders back, regaining the poise he’d let slip for just a moment. “I don’t know why I even invite him anymore,” Dark grumbled. Any of a number of quippy comebacks flashed through Anti’s mind, but he held his tongue. Not as a kindness to Dark in any way and certainly not because he was afraid of the man. If pressed, he probably couldn’t have come up with a good reason why. 

After a moment, Dark seemed the remember that Anti was in the room and he turned to him with a smile. “So,” he said, “You managed to make it as far as the lift before Avery recognized you?” Again, Anti didn’t reply and Dark simply continued to look him over, his gaze sparked with interest. “I assume you stole an invitation from a regular patron. And I suppose they didn’t tell you we were closed for the night. Private engagement. You should have been a little more thorough in your investigation, pet. I’m disappointed.”

Anti’s lips formed a hard line. There it was. ‘Pet’ again. He exhaled hard through his nose, already a bit exasperated. “Sorry to disappoint,” he said with a shrug. Tonight, he’d give as good as he got. Tonight, he wouldn’t let himself be shaken. 

“It’s no matter,” Dark continued. “You probably didn’t even expect me to be here, but I’m honestly glad you turned up. It gives us a chance to talk. The game was starting to get a bit dull and you certainly livened up the company.” 

“Glad I could be useful.” Anti held his ground, but the truth was that putting on a passive face in front of this man was getting old really fast. It was well beyond starting to wear on him and veering quickly into ‘fed up with this’ territory. He wouldn’t stake his life on the fact that Dark didn’t have it out for him, but he hadn’t shown an ounce of violence toward him so far. And so Anti didn’t move as Dark began to stalk around him. Didn’t even bother turning to watch as he moved out of his line of sight. He refused to give him the pleasure of appearing rattled.

The more he thought about it, the more Anti thought he could probably take him, at least if it came to a physical fight. Sure, Dark was bulkier, perhaps slightly taller, but he’d put money on himself being faster and more agile. His mind raced, imagining the details of a fight he wasn’t sure was ever coming. Somehow the planning put him at ease the way an anxious mind might imagine a hundred ways a difficult conversation could play out before the first words were even uttered. If Dark moved like this, he could counter like that. Keep him swinging until his fatigue started to show and he left a perfect opening. 

A hand on his shoulder jerked him from his reverie and Anti nearly jumped out of his skin. Dark was close behind him and leaned in to speak directly in his ear again. “Jumpy, are we? You have nothing to be so afraid of.” His breath was warm on Anti’s skin, but it raised the hair on the back of his neck all the same. Didn’t he have any sense of personal space?

He didn’t want to show his hand so easily, to admit he’d let himself get lost in thought and be so startled, but there was no better explanation for the way he started. He leaned himself away, just far enough to shoot Dark a glare. “You wanted to talk,” he said, “so get talking.” 

Dark patted his shoulder and Anti could feel the space between them widen. He turned to find Dark leaned against a roulette table, casual as he liked. As if this was some run-of-the-mill meeting between colleagues. “I have a proposition for you,” he said. “A simple exchange. You give me what I want and I’ll answer whatever questions you came here to find the answers to.”

Anti’s eyes narrowed. That sounded absurd. All he wanted was to get the information he needed and to never see Dark again. Loathe as he was to admit it even to himself, there was something unsettling about the man. He had no reason to trust him and beyond that, no idea exactly what he would even ask for. “Alright,” he said, shaking his head, “it’s been great. Thanks for wasting my time.” 

Anti turned to leave, but wasn’t even two steps toward the door before Dark was at his back again, an arm reaching around his torso, a hand splayed on his chest. “The fuck do you think you’re doing?” He tried to pull away, but Dark was stronger than he’d bargained for and he was only pulled closer.

“Nothing you won’t be begging me for eventually,” Dark replied, almost purring the words into his ear. The pressure on his chest eased as Dark slid his hand down the track of his body slowly. “I promise not to ask for anything I’m not sure you’d be willing to give, pet.” His hand hovered just below his navel and it felt like all the air had left the room. He’d seen Dark’s switch flip more than once already tonight, but it was still surprising how quickly he could change the entire tone of a room.

Anti swallowed roughly and bit into his lip. He took a labored breath and asked, “What do you want, then?” His mind was full of a static hum that pushed out any and all rational thoughts. He couldn’t even question if this was a good move. Where had all those plans to fight gone? 

Dark chuckled lightly and pressed his face into the crook of Anti’s neck before whispering, “To taste you. Right here.” His lips ghosted over the skin behind his ear. _Fuck fuck fuck._ Anti could feel his heart thrumming in his chest, adrenaline pouring into his bloodstream. He wasn’t sure what he’d expected to hear, but that certainly wasn’t it. The combination of Dark’s low growl and paradoxically soft and firm touches were confusing, to say the least. The absolute least. It had been so long since he’d been touched so intimately, but the loss of control was frustrating in a way he wasn’t entirely sure he enjoyed. 

He licked his lips, and ever-so-slightly nodded his assent. Dark released a low groan and pressed an open-mouthed kiss where he’d been patiently hovering. His lips were warm and soft as they worked the spot over. Anti closed his eyes and let himself relax into the feeling, his head tipping back to allow Dark access to more of his skin. And Dark took advantage of it, too. He nipped slightly lower, teeth scraping the new territory gently before swiping his tongue over the bite. The feeling was entirely new to Anti- to be held so tightly and simply give in to the sensations. He couldn’t remember a time he’d felt so…wanted.

But as quickly as it started, the small intimacy was concluded. Anti was released and left slightly swaying on the spot. It was absolutely jarring. He took a deep breath in through his nose and turned to face Dark once again to find him wiping at his lower lip with a thumb, an easy smirk taking over his face. “You get to ask a question now,” he said evenly, as though nothing had ever happened. 

Anti’s eyes were wide, betraying the confusing blend of emotion that bubbled under his skin. “Are you fucking kidding me?” he asked. The questions he was supposed to ask had momentarily fled his mind as he tried to process exactly what had just happened. His hands clenched into fists and his breaths came fast and shallow. Was this what Dark had meant when he’d called him fascinating? And who the hell did he think he was exactly, assuming that any part of that had been okay?

“Oh dear,” Dark replied without a hint of real remorse in his voice, “it seems like you’ve wasted a question. I don’t do ‘kidding’, pet.” The words took a moment to penetrate Anti’s muddled mind, but the moment they did he unleashed a string of curses. Dark just flashed an amused smile. “You’re cute when you’re frustrated. Has anyone ever told you that?”

Anti was entirely done with not having the upper hand. No one had ever been able to pull his strings like that and, frankly, he hated it. He simply stood there, seething and trying to decide the best way out of this, barely keeping his rage in check. He lamented for a moment that his knife was across the room, embedded in wood paneling instead of inches deep in Dark’s neck. A vision of his pristine white shirt stained and ruined with its owner’s blood was somehow the most calming thing his whiplashed brain could produce. “That’s it,” he said, “I’m done with this. I’ll find him without you.” _And then I’ll never have to deal with this fucking game again._

“I doubt that sincerely,” Dark replied. “Not to show too much of my hand, but I handled his… _situation_ personally. Information I hide myself has a tendency to stay hidden.” 

Anti shook his head dismissively. “Everyone makes mistakes. I just need to find where you made yours.” He filed the information away to analyze later. The tone Dark had wrapped the word ‘situation’ in was curious and deserved dissection. But not now. Now he was too intent on getting out of the hotel and back to his shitty abandoned house to spare more than a passing thought for anything Dark had to say. He turned his back on the man and made for the elevator. 

“You’re wasting your talents, Eoin,” Dark said as he walked away. “Following cheating spouses and reclaiming stolen property can hardly be stimulating enough for someone like you.” Anti didn’t bother to verbalize a reply, choosing instead to flip him off without a look back. He heard Dark chuckle again as he pressed the call button. The doors slid open at once and Anti jerked his knife from where it stuck before stepping inside. “I’m glad you took this case. But perhaps give me a ring next time you feel like stopping by instead of breaking up my favorite social engagement, hm?” 

Anti rolled his eyes. As if he would call Dark even if he could. It wasn’t like he was listed in the white pages and none of his extensive digging had turned up any means of contact at all. Dark was a ghost. And being a non-entity in this day and age was a true achievement. He thumbed the button for the first floor and when the door finally closed between them, Anti let himself slump against the wall. Security cameras be damned, keeping himself on such a tight leash was entirely too draining. He wondered if he could even survive another of these encounters. Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that.

The wind had kicked up again by the time Anti hit the street again. He shoved his hands in his pockets and his fingertips brushed up against something. For a moment he thought it was just the keycard he’d used to enter the building, but the texture was wrong. He removed a small business card and squinted at it in the flickering light of a streetlamp. It was made with heavy black cardstock and bore no text besides ten digits that appeared to be hand-lettered in light gray ink. The bastard had given him his phone number.


End file.
